1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of disaster preparedness and pertains particularly to methods and apparatus for monitoring landslide prone areas and predicting impending landslides before they occur.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
In the field of disaster preparedness relative to landslides and avalanches there are conventions and methods for assessing dangerous conditions and providing warnings if possible to potentially affected communities of impending landslides or similar events that involve displacement of earth or in the case of avalanche, snow. A challenge with monitoring landslide conditions is that more often singular and isolated sensors are checked periodically along with visual presence assessments to determine the potential risks of a landslide and there is not enough of or the right kind of sensor data to enable an accurate and timely prediction of an impending event.
Alerts and warnings associated with potential landslides are often issued when rainfall amounts are high but no other significant data is collected and analyzed prior to and during a landslide event that would enable logical prediction of the course and intensity of a potential slide. Typically once rainfall amounts each a certain level, a generic landslide warning may be issued based on past events or educated guessing as to the timing and severity of the event.
Therefore, what is clearly needed is a system and methods for deploying and monitoring a variety of strategically placed sensors accessible through an alert-based monitoring and notification network that is regionally deployable and accessible to those potentially affected by the monitored local events.